Tor is more popular than ever in our security-minded world

A number of messaging services continue to tout their security as assured through encryption. But in a world where some of those services, like Telegram, flip-flop on their privacy policies, security-conscious people are hunting out tools like Tor, the anonymous communications network, says Pavel Zoneff, director of strategic communications at the Tor Project.

The Tor Project is the nonprofit organization that maintains the Tor network. And Zoneff was in Berlin, Germany, earlier this month to talk about the way in which the comms network helps advance human rights in authoritarian countries. But it’s not just dictators and demagogues that we need to worry about, says Zoneff. “People are much more aware about how the technology that they use that is designed to facilitate communication is also being used to spy on them,” he explains.

That includes some of the more established mainstream messengers run by big tech companies. And most pressingly, it includes Telegram, which has changed its policy in the aftermath of the arrest of its CEO, Pavel Durov, in late August.

As headlines rack up about data breaches, leaks, and snooping—as well as the eye-catching arrest of Durov—public opinion is shifting when it comes to how much they prioritize privacy. Zoneff believes we’re in an era similar to that which occurred when HTTPS became the standard for secure browsing, and otherwise tech-illiterate users began looking out for the golden padlock on their browser.

That increasing awareness benefits Tor, which sees itself as a world away from the other services out there. “A lot of the leading companies have course-corrected in their marketing, and are now pushing the encryption topic, whether you trust them or not,” he says. “Tor is really different in that it can create a metadata-free environment, which most other messaging apps are not capable of.”

The arrest of Durov didn’t see a major uptick in users for Tor, Zoneff admits—in part, he believes, because the service already has a strong user base in Russia, where Telegram has historically been popular. However, in the months before Durov’s arrest, Tor saw the number of users connecting to Tor from Russia both directly and through bridges steadily increasing. In early September, around a week after Durov’s arrest, the number of Russian users connecting directly spiked above 60,000 from levels around 35,000 just days earlier. 

At the same time, around 60,000 more Russian users connect via a Tor bridge, which is more difficult for authorities to block. Those 60,000 bridge-connecting users account for around half of all the users connecting to Tor via a bridge. “We already have a lot of users in Russia, and they know us and they trust us,” he says. “They also use a lot of Telegram, and know there are trade-offs with it.”

Zoneff says that many of those who use Telegram recognize there are potential issues around trust—issues that Telegram denies, but has recently changed its policy around what information it would share following a law enforcement request—but that they use the app nonetheless. “It’s an issue of connectivity,” Zoneff says. “All of your friends and your entire community and the way to organize is on that app.”

He admits that even Tor has made similar trade-offs when choosing to have a presence on Telegram. It provides a Telegram bot that provides Tor bridges to users seeking safe communication. “Even we’re using these channels—just because we want to meet people where they are,” he says.

However, Durov’s arrest hasn’t changed the calculus much for Tor, says Zoneff. “I don’t think that a lot of the users that are generally aware of how Tor works, and rely on Tor, trust Telegram that much,” he explains. “I think they are already very restricted, and they know that it is built on an infrastructure that could get away or change hands and ownership and change dramatically.”

Those same users are likely to prefer decentralization of their communications services across the board. “We say we need to have more choice, more choice and more choice because, even if you use Telegram for one thing, you can use Signal for another, and even just separating the information already helps,” he says.

But any increase in popularity for Tor comes with its challenges. “The main challenge is going to continue to be the strength and the health of the network, and especially building more bandwidth,” says Zoneff. The Tor network is faster than ever, Zoneff professes, thanks to growth over the past three years, including more nodes. Code improvements have also helped improve stability while expanding capacity.

That’s important because Tor plans to release a VPN-like app and feature in 2025 to try and support mobile use. “This is the primary way people connect online, but also some of our more vulnerable populations are connecting on mobile because this is the only device they have.” Work on that project has been ongoing for several years, but has stopped and started due to funding challenges.

The shift in how we perceive security may help in that way, says Zoneff. “People are really, really realizing the importance of Tor more and more, and how vital and critical it is to fund and support critical internet infrastructure.”